If I stay
If I Stay Unless you have been living under a rock, you have probably heard about 'If I Stay'. It has been turned into a movie as heartbreaking as the book it was based on. I absolutely wanted to read the book before the movie came out, as I always do , and I'm glad I did. I was baffled when I saw the trailer at first. I had heard about the book and had been wanting to read it for over a year. I have a really positive opinion about the trailer, but I'll probably write about that later. 'If I Stay' is the heartbreaking story of Mia Hall who is an ordinary girl were it not for her talent. She plays the cello, setting her apart of her family who are more into rock. Everything goes well, as well as the life of a teenager can be. She has an amazing boyfriend, the best friend imaginable and a loving family. Until one day, Mia, her parents and her little brother Teddy go out and get into a car accident. Her familymembers all die, but Mia finds herself out of her body. Seeing everything as if she were alive, but no one seeing her or hearing her. Mia has to make the biggest decision possible. Go and escape the pain of being an orphan or stay and make her dreams come true. But even if she knows what to decide, how does she decide? How does she make it happen? First, I think it's nice to note that the story is realistic. Not the part about the girl floating out of her body and all (even though we don't know whether it's a real thing or not), but the part about being a teenage girls with dreams and insecurities and friends and a caring family. Of course, Adam is the perfect boyfriend and Mia has the perfect family and she's beautiful and talented and that might not be true for most of us mere mortals, but people act and react in a realistic way. Nothing is really out of the ordinary or exaggerated. Her relationship is not perfect from the start and the awkward first stage of a teenage relationship is very well depicted. People are real with emotions you can relate to. This is also the reason why eventhough the choice could seem obvious (as your instinct takes over) you can relate to Mia and wonder what you would do if you were ever in that position. It's also the reason you cry your heart out when you read this book. I like that music is a big part of the b ook. The contrast between Mia's rock'n roll family and her love for classical music. Personally I love both, but it's a nice touch to see the differences between people who love one or the other. Maybe people really can be put in a category. Either you like classical music or you like rock. Either you go into the mosh pit or you don't. Either you like the guitarist or you like the drummer. Much like Kim and Mia, Gayle Forman devides people into categories. I'm not sure you can really apply this to the real world as I like to believe people are more complicated than that, but it's an idea to think about. Something else I want to talk about is the ending. Was I the only one being frustrated as hell? I mean, an open ending? Really? It was both awesome and awful. What happens?! Does Mia get in to Julliard? Do Adam and Mia stay together? We can only speculate. That's what made it awesome for me. I think Forman didn't want to spoil it all. She gives us the opportunity to think about it and imagine the ending we want. I can't really say that much about the book, except that I really liked it and was sucked into the storyline and characters as you always should. But what about you? What do you think happens after Mia wakes up? What would you do had you ever have to make the choice? Tell me in the comment section below. ~Ashley